USPTO Patents Application 10731207

United States Patent and Trademark Office

UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
United States Patent and Trademark. Office
Address: COMMISSIONER FOR PATENTS

P.O. Box 1450 \

Alexandria, Virginia 22313-1450 V

www.uspto.gov

APPLICATION NO.

FILING DATE

FIRST NAMED INVENTOR

ATTORNEY DOCKET NO.

CONFIRMATION NO.

10/731,207

33963

12/10/2003

7590

11/29/2004

ROBERT J. LEMIRE

P.O. BOX 299

KINGS PARK, NY 11754

Robert J. Lemire

4598

EXAMINER

KING, ANITA M

ART UNIT

PAPER NUMBER

3632

DATE MAILED: 1 1/29/2004

Please find below and/or attached an Office communication concerning this application or proceeding.

PTO-90C (Rev. 10/03)

Office Action Summary

Application No.

10/731,207

Applicant(s) ^*<*^
LEMIRE, ROBERT

Pv am i no r

Anita M. King

Art Unit

3632

- The MAILING DATE of this communication appears on the cover sheet with the correspondence address

Period for Reply

A SHORTENED STATUTORY PERIOD FOR REPLY IS SET TO EXPIRE 1 MONTH(S) FROM
THE MAILING DATE OF THIS COMMUNICATION.

• Extensions of time may be available under the provisions of 37 CFR 1 .136(a). In no event, however, may a reply be timely filed
after SIX (6) MONTHS from the mailing date of this communication.

- If the period for reply specified above is less than thirty (30) days, a reply within the statutory minimum of thirty (30) days will be considered timely.

- If NO period for reply is specified above, the maximum statutory period will apply and will expire SIX (6) MONTHS from the mailing date of this communication.

- Failure to reply within the set or extended period for reply will, by statute, cause the application to become ABANDONED (35 U.S.C. § 133).
Any reply received by the Office later than three months after the mailing date of this communication, even if timely filed, may reduce any
earned patent term adjustment. See 37 CFR 1 .704(b).

Status

1 )M Responsive to communication(s) filed on 14 July 2004 .
2a)D This action is FINAL. 2b)M This action is non-final.

3) D Since this application is in condition for allowance except for formal matters, prosecution as to the merits is

closed in accordance with the practice under Ex parte Quayle, 1935 CD. 1 1 , 453 O.G. 213.

Disposition of Claims

4) I3 Claim(s) 1^8 is/are pending in the application.

4a) Of the above claim(s) is/are withdrawn from consideration.

5) D Claim(s) is/are allowed.

6) D Claim(s) is/are rejected.

7) D Claim(s) is/are objected to.

8) D Claim(s) are subject to restriction and/or election requirement.

Application Papers

9) D The specification is objected to by the Examiner.

10) D The drawing(s) filed on is/are: a)D accepted or b)D objected to by the Examiner.

Applicant may not request that any objection to the drawing(s) be held in abeyance. See 37 CFR 1.85(a).
Replacement drawing sheet(s) including the correction is required if the drawing(s) is objected to. See 37 CFR 1.121(d).

1 1) D The oath or declaration is objected to by the Examiner. Note the attached Office Action or form PTO-152.

Priority under 35 U.S.C. § 119

12) D Acknowledgment is made of a claim for foreign priority under 35 U.S.C. § 119(a)-(d) or (f).
a)D All b)D Some * c)D None of:

1 .□ Certified copies of the priority documents have been received.

2. D Certified copies of the priority documents have been received in Application No. .

3. D Copies of the certified copies of the priority documents have been received in this National Stage

application from the International Bureau (PCT Rule 17.2(a)).
* See the attached detailed Office action for a list of the certified copies not received.

Attachments)

1) □ Notice of References Cited (PTO-892)

2) CD Notice of Draftsperson's Patent Drawing Review (PTO-948)

3) □ Information Disclosure Statements) (PTO-1449 or PTO/SB/08)

Paper No(s)/Mail Date .

4) CD Interview Summary (PTO-413)

Paper No(s)/Mail Date. .

5) CD Notice of Informal Patent Application (PTO-152)

6) □ Other: .

U.S. Patent and Trade mart; Office
PTOL-326 (Rev. 1-04)

Office Action Summary

Part of Paper No./Mail Date 1 1232004

Application/Control Number: 1 0/731 ,207 Page 2

Art Unit: 3632

This is the second office action for application number 10/731,207, Spring
Locking Hanging System, filed on December 10, 2003.

Response to Amendment

The reply filed on July 14, 2004 is not fully responsive to the prior Office Action
because of the following omission(s) or matter(s): the applicant did not properly respond
to the election/restriction requirement. See 37 CFR 1.111. Since the above-mentioned
reply appears to be bona fide, applicant is given ONE (1) MONTH or THIRTY (30)
DAYS from the mailing date of this notice, whichever is longer, within which to supply
the omission or correction in order to avoid abandonment. EXTENSIONS OF THIS
TIME PERIOD MAY BE GRANTED UNDER 37 CFR 1 .136(a).

Applicant's claimed invention discloses a plurality of patentably distinct species
that are drawn to a spring locking hanging system. In response to this requirement, the
applicant should pick one of the species groupings, i.e., either Species I - Figs. 1 A and
1 B (which are drawn to claims 1-3 and 8); Species II - Fig. 2 (which is drawn to claims
1-4); Species III - Fig. 3 (which is drawn to claims 1-3 and 5); Species IV - Fig. 4 (which
is drawn to claims 1-3 and 6); or Species V - Fig. 5 ( which is drawn to claims 1-3 and
7). SeeMPEP800.

Any revisions or amendments to the claims should be made in accordance to
CFR 1 .121(c) (see instructions below).

A) Amendments to the claims:

Each amendment document that includes a change to an existing claim, cancellation of
a claim or a submission of a new claim must include a complete listing of all claims in

Application/Control Number: 10/731,207 Page 3

Art Unit: 3632

the application. After each claim number in the listing, the status must be indicated in a
parenthetical expression, and the text of each pending claim (with markings to show
current changes) must be presented. The claims in the listing will replace all prior
claims in the application.

(1) The current status of the all the claims in the application, including any
previously canceled, not entered or withdrawn claims, must be given in a
parenthetical expression following the claim number using only one of
(previously presented) and (not entered). The text of all pending claims,
including withdrawn claims, must be submitted each time any claim is
amended. Canceled and not entered claims must be indicated by only the claim
number and status, without presenting the text of the claims.

(2) The text of all claims being currently amended must be presented in the claim
listing with markings to indicate the changes that have been made relative to the
immediate prior version. The changes in any amended claim must be shown by
underlining (for added mater) or strikethrough (for deleted matter) with 2
exceptions: ( 1 Uor deletion of five characters or fewer, double brackets may
be used (e.g.. fferrorll): and (2) if strikethrough cannot be easily perceived
(e.g.. deletion of the number "4" or certain punctuation marks), double
brackets must be used (e.g.. ff411). As an alternative to using double
brackets, however, extra portions of text may be included before and after
text being deleted, all in strikethrough. followed bv including and
underlining the extra text with the desired change (e.g., numb e r A as number

. 14 as) . An accompanying clean version is not required and should not be
presented. Only claims of the status "currently amended," and "withdrawn" that
are being amended, may include markings.

(3) The text of pending claims not being currently amended , including
withdrawn claims, must be presented in the claim listing in clean version, i.e.,
without any markings. Any claim text presented in clean version will constitute
an assertion that it has not been changed relative to the immediate prior version
except to omit markings that may have been presented in the immediate prior
version of the claims.

(4) A claim being canceled must be listed in the claim listing with the status
identifier "canceled"; the text of the claim must not be presented. Providing an
instruction to cancel is optional.

(5) Any claims added by amendment must be presented in the claim listing with
the status identifier "(new)"; the text of the claim must not be underlined.

(6) All of the claims in the claim listing must be presented in ascending numerical
order. Consecutive canceled, or not entered, claims may be aggregated into one
statement (e.g., Claims 1-5 (canceled)).

Application/Control Number: 10/731,207
Art Unit: 3632

Page 4

B) Amendments to the specification:

Amendments to the specification, including the abstract, must be made by presenting a
replacement paragraph or section or abstract marked up to show changes made
relative to the immediate prior version. An accompanying clean version is not required
and should not be presented. Newly added paragraphs or sections, including a new
abstract (instead of a replacement abstract), must not be underlined. A replacement or
new abstract must be submitted on a separate sheet, 37 CFR 1 .72. If a substitute
specification is being submitted to incorporate extensive amendments, both a clean
version (which will be entered) and a marked up version must be submitted as per 37
CFR 1.125.

The changes in any replacement paragraph or section, or substitute specification must
be shown by underlining (for added matter) or strikethrough (for deleted matter) with 2
exceptions: ( 1 Uor deletion of fiver characters or fewer, double brackets mav be
used (e.g.. fferrorll): and (2) if strikethrough cannot be easily perceived (e.g..
deletion of the number "4" or certain punctuation marks), double brackets must
be used (e.g.. FF411). As an alternative to using double brackets, however, extra
portions of text mav be included and after being deleted, all in strikethrough.
followed bv including and underlining the extra text with the desired change (e.g.,
numb e r A as number 14 as) .

C) Amendments to drawing figures:

Drawing changes must be made by presenting replacement figures which incorporate
the desired changes and which comply with 37 CFR 1 .84. An explanation of the
changes made must be presented either in the drawing amendments, or remarks
section of the amendment, and mav be accompanied bv a marked-uo copy of one
or more of the figures being amendment, with annotations. Any replacement
drawing sheet must be identified in the top margin as "Replacement Sheet" and
include all of the figures appearing on the immediate prior version of the sheet, even
though only one figure may be amended. Any marked-up (annotated) copy showing
changes must be labeled "Annotated Sheet Showing Changes" and accompany
the replacement sheet as an appendix to the amendment . The figure or figure
number of the amended drawings(s) must not be labeled as "amended." If the changes
to the drawing figure(s) are not accepted by the examiner, applicant will be notified of
any required corrective action in the next Office action. No further drawing submission
will be required, unless applicant is notified.

Application/Control Number: 10/731,207
Art Unit: 3632

Page 5

Conclusion

Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the
examiner should be directed to Anita M. King whose telephone number is (703) 308-
2162. The examiner can normally be reached on Monday-Friday.

If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner's
supervisor, Leslie A. Braun can be reached on (703) 308-2156. The fax phone number
for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 703-872-9306.

Information regarding the status of an application may be obtained from the
Patent Application Information Retrieval (PAIR) system. Status information for
published applications may be obtained from either Private PAIR or Public PAIR.
Status information for unpublished applications is available through Private PAIR only.
For more information about the PAIR system, see http://pair-direct.uspto.gov. Should
you have questions on access to the Private PAIR system, contact the Electronic
Business Center (EBC) at 866-21 7-91 97 (toll-free).

Anita M. King O
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 3632

November 23, 2004